Catalyst Conference: Client Case Study
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Wyeth Cures Bandwidth Deficiency with DWDM WAN
"Abundant bandwidth changes the way your company does business.
We see a real synergy between increased bandwidth and increased problem solving."
Nick Fiekowsky, Enterprise Consultant of Network Strategy, Wyeth
Wyeth is developing more than 60 new therapies for diabetes,
breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and
other conditions. To accelerate development of these medicines-and allow greater
perational efficiency-Wyeth needed a WAN with lots of affordable bandwidth.
In 1994, Wyeth began exploring ways to increase bandwidth between its
Philadelphia and New York data centers. Nick Fiekowsky, Wyeth's enterprise
consultant of network strategy, and Erik Molden, enterprise consultant of
network architecture decided to look beyond conventional enterprise WAN approaches.
After all, Wyeth is a big company with big bandwidth needs, and its data centers,
research sites, plants and warehouses were all located along fiber-optic routes.
As Wyeth realized the possibilities-and value-of dense wave division multiplexing
(DWDM), its data center consolidation project quickly evolved into a high-speed
WAN that would link 11 U.S. East Coast sites. Wyeth is currently building a DWDM
network that is expected to increase bandwidth from 158 Megabit/sec to 12 Gigabit/sec,
while adding another six Gigabit/sec of fiber channel for replication.
"We're increasing capacity by almost 100 times, while decreasing
our monthly WAN expense by 28 percent," exclaims Fiekowsky.
Challenges:
- Consolidate data centers
- Gain affordable bandwidth for data-intensive research applications
- Enhance disaster recovery/data replication
- Reduce monthly WAN expense
Solution:
- Creating a DWDM WAN between 11 U.S. East Coast sites
- Partnering with small, young carriers for DWDM long-haul service
- Using carrier hotels to house WAN communications and allow painless interconnection between vendors
- Committing to short-term WAN contracts for greater vendor flexibility
Results:
- Increasing capacity by 100 times
- Reducing its WAN monthly spend by 28 percent
- Enabling new data-intensive research applications, VoIP, streaming media and HDTV videoconferencing
- Allowing data center consolidation
- Reconsidering previously impractical projects due to abundant bandwidth
"Early on, Burton Group told us to get into carrier hotels, which proved to be invaluable advice."
Nick Fiekowsky, Enterprise Consultant of Network Strategy, Wyeth
Expert Analysis and Advice
Since 1990, Burton Group has enabled enterprise
technologists to make smarter IT architecture and
infrastructure decisions. Burton Group offers the
following resources and insights to help your
organization get technically in-depth, straight,
and practical research and advice:
- Reference architecture (decision-making framework)
- In-depth research
- Telebriefings
- Unlimited analyst dialogues
- Methodologies and Best Practices documents
- Catalyst Conference
- Consulting services
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